Information processing system, information processing apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus by which image data can be downloaded simply. A video camera  11  receives thumbnail images corresponding to one or more images included in an album from a video camera image station  41  and displays the thumbnail images on an LCD unit. If one or more images to be downloaded are selected, then the video camera  11  acquires image information of the selected image or images from a video camera image station  41,  analyzes the image information and discriminates it one by one image whether or not the selected image data are downloadable. Every time one image is discriminated to be downloadable, the video camera  11  accesses a corresponding URL designated for each image, downloads the image from the URL and records the image onto a recording medium. The video camera  11  successively downloads the selected images in this manner.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processingsystem, an information processing apparatus and method, and moreparticularly to an information processing system, an informationprocessing apparatus and method by which image data stored in a databasecan be downloaded efficiently.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] An undertaker (hereinafter referred to as album service providingundertaker) is available which provides a service for providing an albumon a network, that is, a service of storing image data of stillpictures, moving pictures and so forth picked up by a user using animage pickup apparatus into a database through a network to the user. Anoutline of the service is described with reference to FIG. 1.

[0003] A personal computer 1 for use by a user is connected to a server2 of an album service providing undertaker through the Internet 3.

[0004] Image data picked up by the user using an image pickup apparatus(not shown) are recorded onto a recording medium. The personal computer1 fetches the image data from, for example, the recording medium.Further, the personal computer 1 establishes a connection to theInternet 3 and fetches image data from an information providing servernot shown or the like.

[0005] The personal computer 1 can access the server 2 of the albumservice providing undertaker through the Internet 3 and store the imagedata fetched by such a method as described above into a database of theserver 2. Further, the personal computer 1 can read or erase the imagedata stored in the database of the server 2 or transmit them as annexeddata to an electric mail to another user. Further, the user candownload, when necessary, desired image data from the database of theserver 2 to the personal computer 1.

[0006] However, there is a subject that, when image data picked up by animage pickup apparatus are uploaded to the server 2 and when image datastored in the database are downloaded, the user is obliged to designateobject images one by one to upload or download them one by one, and as aresult, much time is required.

[0007] Further, there is another subject that, since operation of apersonal computer is complicated, a user unfamiliar to a method of useof a personal computer cannot easily enjoy provision of the service.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstancesas described above and makes it possible to download image data simplyusing an image pickup apparatus.

[0009] An information processing system of the present invention ischaracterized in that a first information processing apparatus includesfirst requesting means for issuing a request for transmission of indicesto images managed by second information processing apparatus to thesecond information processing apparatus through a network, acceptancemeans for displaying the indices to the images transmitted from thesecond information processing apparatus and accepting selection of oneor more of the images desired to be downloaded by a user, secondrequesting means for issuing a request for transmission ofdiscrimination information of the image data corresponding to the imageor images whose selection has been accepted by the acceptance means tothe second information processing apparatus, discrimination means fordiscriminating whether or not the image data are downloadable based onthe discrimination information transmitted from the second informationprocessing apparatus, third requesting means for issuing a request fortransmission of the image data to the second information processingapparatus if it is discriminated by the discrimination means that theimage data are downloadable, and recording means for recording the imagedata transmitted from the second information processing apparatus onto arecording medium, and the second information processing apparatusincludes storage means for storing the image data transmitted from thefirst information processing apparatus for each user, specificationmeans for accepting an access from the first information processingapparatus to specify the user of the first information processingapparatus, first transmission means for transmitting, in response to thetransmission request for indices to the images from the firstinformation processing apparatus, indices to the images to the firstinformation processing apparatus, second transmission means fortransmitting the discrimination information to the first informationprocessing apparatus in response to the transmission request fordiscrimination information from the first information processingapparatus, and third transmission means for transmitting the image datato the first information processing apparatus in response to thetransmission request for the image data from the first informationprocessing apparatus.

[0010] The indices to the images may include thumbnail images of theimages.

[0011] The discrimination information may include information regardinga file size of the image data and a type of a format of the image dataas well as a URL corresponding to the image data.

[0012] The third requesting means may access, when to issue a requestfor transmission of the image data, the URL included in thediscrimination information and issues a request for transmission of theimage data.

[0013] A first information processing apparatus of the present inventionis characterized in that it includes first requesting means for issuinga request for transmission of indices to images managed by a differentinformation processing apparatus to the different information processingapparatus through a network, first acceptance means for displaying theindices to the images transmitted from the different informationprocessing apparatus and accepting selection of one or more of theimages desired to be downloaded by a user, second requesting means forissuing a request for transmission of discrimination information of theimage data corresponding to the image or images whose selection has beenaccepted by the first acceptance means to the different informationprocessing means, discrimination means for discriminating whether or notthe image data are downloadable based on the discrimination informationtransmitted from the different information processing apparatus, thirdrequesting means for issuing a request for transmission of the imagedata to the different information processing apparatus if it isdiscriminated by the discrimination means that the image data aredownloadable, and recording means for recording the image datatransmitted from the different information processing apparatus onto arecording medium.

[0014] The indices to the images may include thumbnail images of theimages.

[0015] The discrimination information may include information regardinga file size of the image data and a type of a format of the image dataas well as a URL corresponding to the image data.

[0016] The discrimination means may compare the file size of the imagedata with a free storage capacity of the recording medium todiscriminate whether or not the image data are downloadable.

[0017] The discrimination means may discriminate whether or not theimage data are downloadable based on the information regarding the typeof the format of the image data.

[0018] The third requesting means may access, when to issue a requestfor transmission of the image data, the URL included in thediscrimination information and issues a request for transmission of theimage data.

[0019] The discrimination means may select the image data one by onefrom among the image data corresponding to the one or more imagesaccepted by the first acceptance means and discriminate whether or notthe selected image data are downloadable, and the third requesting meansmay issue a request for transmission of the one image data every time itis discriminated by the discrimination means that one of the image datais downloadable.

[0020] The information processing apparatus may further include imagepickup means for picking up an image of an image pickup object.

[0021] The network may be the Internet.

[0022] The information processing apparatus may further include fourthrequesting means for issuing a request for transmission of a list ofgroups to the different information processing apparatus, and secondacceptance means for displaying the list of the groups transmitted fromthe different information processing apparatus and accepting selectionfrom among the groups, and the first requesting means may issue arequest for indices to the image data classified in the group acceptedby the second acceptance means.

[0023] A first information processing method of the present invention ischaracterized in that it includes a first requesting step of issuing arequest for transmission of indices to images managed by a differentinformation processing apparatus to the different information processingapparatus through a network, an acceptance step of displaying theindices to the images transmitted from the different informationprocessing apparatus and accepting selection of one or more of theimages desired to be downloaded by a user, a second requesting step ofissuing a request for transmission of discrimination information of theimage data corresponding to the image or images whose selection has beenaccepted by the process at the acceptance step to the differentinformation processing means, a discrimination step of discriminatingwhether or not the image data are downloadable based on thediscrimination information transmitted from the different informationprocessing apparatus, a third requesting step of issuing a request fortransmission of the image data to the different information processingapparatus if it is discriminated by the process at the discriminationstep that the image data are downloadable, and a recording step ofrecording the image data transmitted from the different informationprocessing apparatus onto a recording medium.

[0024] A first recording medium of the present invention ischaracterized in that a program includes a first requesting step ofissuing a request for transmission of indices to images managed by adifferent information processing apparatus to the different informationprocessing apparatus through a network, an acceptance step of displayingthe indices to the images transmitted from the different informationprocessing apparatus and accepting selection of one or more of theimages desired to be downloaded by a user, a second requesting step ofissuing a request for transmission of discrimination information of theimage data corresponding to the image or images whose selection has beenaccepted by the process at the acceptance step to the differentinformation processing means, a discrimination step of discriminatingwhether or not the image data are downloadable based on thediscrimination information transmitted from the different informationprocessing apparatus, a third requesting step of issuing a request fortransmission of the image data to the different information processingapparatus if it is discriminated by the process at the discriminationstep that the image data are downloadable, and a recording step ofrecording the image data transmitted from the different informationprocessing apparatus onto a recording medium.

[0025] A first program of the present invention causes a computer toexecute a first requesting step of issuing a request for transmission ofindices to images managed by a different information processingapparatus to the different information processing apparatus through anetwork, an acceptance step of displaying the indices to the imagestransmitted from the different information processing apparatus andaccepting selection of one or more of the images desired to bedownloaded by a user, a second requesting step of issuing a request fortransmission of discrimination information of the image datacorresponding to the image or images whose selection has been acceptedby the process at the acceptance step to the different informationprocessing means, a discrimination step of discriminating whether or notthe image data are downloadable based on the discrimination informationtransmitted from the different information processing apparatus, a thirdrequesting step of issuing a request for transmission of the image datato the different information processing apparatus if it is discriminatedby the process at the discrimination step that the image data aredownloadable, and a recording step of recording the image datatransmitted from the different information processing apparatus onto arecording medium.

[0026] A second information processing apparatus of the presentinvention is characterized in that it includes storage means for storingimage data transmitted thereto from a different information processingapparatus for each user, specification means for accepting an accessfrom the different information processing apparatus to specify the userof the different information processing apparatus, first transmissionmeans for transmitting, in response to a transmission request forindices to the images from the different information processingapparatus, indices to the images to the different information processingapparatus, second transmission means for transmitting discriminationinformation to the different information processing apparatus inresponse to a transmission request for discrimination information fromthe different information processing apparatus, and third transmissionmeans for transmitting predetermined image data from within the imagedata stored in the storage means to the different information processingapparatus in response to a transmission request for the image data fromthe different information processing apparatus.

[0027] The storage means may store a plurality of the image data in aclassified state in a plurality of groups, and the informationprocessing apparatus may further include fourth transmission means fortransmitting a list of the groups to the different informationprocessing apparatus based on a transmission request for the list of thegroups from the different information processing apparatus.

[0028] A second information processing method of the present inventionis characterized in that it includes a storage step of storing imagedata transmitted thereto from a different information processingapparatus for each user, a specification step of accepting an accessfrom the different information processing apparatus to specify the userof the different information processing apparatus, a first transmissionstep of transmitting, in response to a transmission request for indicesto the images from the different information processing apparatus,indices to the images to the different information processing apparatus,a second transmission step of transmitting discrimination information tothe different information processing apparatus in response to atransmission request for discrimination information from the differentinformation processing apparatus, and a third transmission step oftransmitting predetermined image data from within the image data storedby the process of the storage step to the different informationprocessing apparatus in response to a transmission request for the imagedata from the different information processing apparatus.

[0029] A second recording medium of the present invention ischaracterized in that a program includes a storage step of storing imagedata transmitted thereto from a different information processingapparatus for each user, a specification step of accepting an accessfrom the different information processing apparatus to specify the userof the different information processing apparatus, a first transmissionstep of transmitting, in response to a transmission request for indicesto the images from the different information processing apparatus,indices to the images to the different information processing apparatus,a second transmission step of transmitting discrimination information tothe different information processing apparatus in response to atransmission request for discrimination information from the differentinformation processing apparatus, and a third transmission step oftransmitting predetermined image data from within the image data storedby the process of the storage step to the different informationprocessing apparatus in response to a transmission request for the imagedata from the different information processing apparatus.

[0030] A second program of the present invention causes a computer toexecute a storage step of storing image data transmitted thereto from adifferent information processing apparatus for each user, aspecification step of accepting an access from the different informationprocessing apparatus to specify the user of the different informationprocessing apparatus, a first transmission step of transmitting, inresponse to a transmission request for indices to the images from thedifferent information processing apparatus, indices to the images to thedifferent information processing apparatus, a second transmission stepof transmitting discrimination information to the different informationprocessing apparatus in response to a transmission request fordiscrimination information from the different information processingapparatus, and a third transmission step of transmitting predeterminedimage data from within the image data stored by the process of thestorage step to the different information processing apparatus inresponse to a transmission request for the image data from the differentinformation processing apparatus.

[0031] In the information processing system of the present invention,the first information processing apparatus issues a request fortransmission of indices to images managed by the second informationprocessing apparatus to the second information processing apparatusthrough the network, displays the indices to the images transmitted fromthe second information processing apparatus and accepts selection of oneor more of the images desired to be downloaded by a user. Further, thefirst information processing apparatus issues a request for transmissionof discrimination information of the image data corresponding to theimage or images whose selection has been accepted to the secondinformation processing apparatus, discriminates whether or not the imagedata are downloadable based on the discrimination informationtransmitted from the second information processing apparatus, issues arequest for transmission of the image data to the second informationprocessing apparatus if it is discriminated that the image data aredownloadable, and records the image data transmitted from the secondinformation processing apparatus onto a recording medium. The secondinformation processing apparatus stores the image data transmitted fromthe first information processing apparatus for each user, accepts anaccess from the first information processing apparatus, specifies theuser of the first information processing apparatus, transmits, inresponse to the transmission request for indices to the images from thefirst information processing apparatus, indices to the images to thefirst information processing apparatus, transmits the discriminationinformation to the first information processing apparatus in response tothe transmission request for discrimination information from the firstinformation processing apparatus, and transmits the image data to thefirst information processing apparatus in response to the transmissionrequest for the image data from the first information processingapparatus.

[0032] In the first information processing apparatus and method,recording medium and program of the present invention, a request fortransmission of indices to images managed by a different informationprocessing apparatus is issued to the different information processingapparatus through the network, and the indices to the images transmittedfrom the different information processing apparatus are displayed andselection of one or more of the images desired to be downloaded by auser is accepted. Further, a request for transmission of discriminationinformation of the image data corresponding to the image or images whoseselection has been accepted by the first acceptance means is issued tothe different information processing means, and it is discriminatedbased on the discrimination information transmitted from the differentinformation processing apparatus whether or not the image data aredownloadable. Then, a request for transmission of the image data to thedifferent information processing apparatus is issued if it isdiscriminated that the image data are downloadable, and the image datatransmitted from the different information processing apparatus arerecorded onto a recording medium.

[0033] In the second information processing apparatus and method,recording medium and program of the present invention, image datatransmitted thereto from a different information processing apparatusare stored for each user, and an access from the different informationprocessing apparatus is accepted and the user of the differentinformation processing apparatus is specified. Then, in response to atransmission request for indices to the images from the differentinformation processing apparatus, indices to the images are transmittedto the different information processing apparatus, and thendiscrimination information is transmitted to the different informationprocessing apparatus in response to a transmission request fordiscrimination information from the different information processingapparatus. Then, predetermined image data from within the image datastored in the storage means are transmitted to the different informationprocessing apparatus in response to a transmission request for the imagedata from the different information processing apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0034]FIG. 1 is a view showing a configuration of a conventional serviceproviding system;

[0035]FIG. 2 is a view showing a configuration of a service providingsystem to which the present invention is applied;

[0036]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a videocamera of FIG. 1;

[0037]FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a customerregistration web server of FIG. 1;

[0038]FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an imagestation for a video camera of FIG. 1;

[0039]FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a customerdatabase of FIG. 1;

[0040]FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a customer registrationprocess in the service providing system of FIG. 1;

[0041]FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a digital image customerregistration process of the video camera of FIG. 1;

[0042]FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a digital image customerregistration process of a network system of FIG. 1;

[0043]FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating an ISP connectionregistration process of the video camera of FIG. 1;

[0044]FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating an ISP connectionregistration process of the customer database of an Internet serviceprovider of FIG. 1;

[0045]FIG. 12 is a view showing an example of Internet service providersetting information at step S79 of FIG. 10;

[0046]FIG. 13 is a view showing an example of setting information forthe video camera at step S80 of FIG. 10;

[0047]FIG. 14A is a view illustrating setting items upon connection tothe Internet through a conventional common Internet service provider;

[0048]FIG. 14B is a view illustrating setting items upon connection tothe Internet through the Internet service provider to which the presentinvention is applied;

[0049]FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating an album utilizationregistration process of the video camera of FIG. 1;

[0050]FIG. 16 is a flow chart illustrating an album registrationutilization process of the image station for a video camera of FIG. 1;

[0051]FIG. 17 is a flow chart illustrating an access process of thevideo camera of FIG. 1;

[0052]FIG. 18 is a view illustrating utilization of a unified ID andpassword;

[0053]FIG. 19 is a view showing an example of an LCD screen on which animage stored in a memory card is displayed;

[0054]FIG. 20 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD after a network button of FIG. 19 is selected;

[0055]FIG. 21 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD after a Web album button of FIG. 20 is selected;

[0056]FIG. 22 is a flow chart illustrating an editing/reading process ofthe video camera of FIG. 1;

[0057]FIG. 23 is a flow chart continuing from that of FIG. 22illustrating the editing/reading process of the video camera of FIG. 1;

[0058]FIG. 24 is a flow chart continuing from that of FIG. 23illustrating the editing/reading process of the video camera of FIG. 1;

[0059]FIG. 25 is a flow chart continuing from that of FIG. 23illustrating the editing/reading process of the video camera of FIG. 1;

[0060]FIG. 26 is a flow chart illustrating a process of the imagestation for a video camera of FIG. 1 corresponding to theediting/reading process of the video camera of FIG. 1;

[0061]FIG. 27 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD after a reading/editing button of FIG. 21 is selected;

[0062]FIG. 28 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD after the screen of FIG. 27 is displayed;

[0063]FIG. 29 is a view showing an example of an album selection pagescreen displayed on the LCD;

[0064]FIG. 30 is a view showing an example of an album selection pagescreen wherein a cursor is on an album;

[0065]FIG. 31 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed at stepS166 of FIG. 22;

[0066]FIG. 32 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed at stepS169 of FIG. 23;

[0067]FIG. 33 is a view showing another example of a screen displayed atstep S169 of FIG. 23;

[0068]FIG. 34 is a view showing a further example of a screen displayedat step S169 of FIG. 23;

[0069]FIG. 35 is a view showing a still further example of a screendisplayed at step S169 of FIG. 23;

[0070]FIG. 36 is a view showing a yet further example of a screendisplayed at step S169 of FIG. 23;

[0071]FIG. 37 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD at step S173 of FIG. 23 and step S189 of FIG. 25;

[0072]FIG. 38 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD at step S174 of FIG. 23;

[0073]FIG. 39 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD at step S183 of FIG. 24;

[0074]FIG. 40 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD at step S185 of FIG. 24;

[0075]FIG. 41 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD at step S186 of FIG. 24;

[0076]FIG. 42 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on theLCD at step S190 of FIG. 25; and

[0077]FIG. 43 is a view showing another example of a screen displayed onthe LCD at step S169 of FIG. 23.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0078]FIG. 2 shows an example of a configuration of a service providingsystem to which the present invention is applied. In the serviceproviding system, a network system 14, a network service business center15, an image station server 16, Internet service providers (ISP) 17 and18, an information providing server 19, and a search server 20 areconnected to the Internet 10.

[0079] Further, the network system 14, Internet service provider 17 andInternet service provider 18 are connected to a public network 13. Alsothe Bluetooth adapter 12 is further connected to the public network 13.A video camera 11 can be connected to the Bluetooth adapter 12 throughshort distance radio communication in accordance with the Bluetooth(trademark) and further connected to the network system 14, the Internetservice provider 17, or the Internet service provider 18 through thepublic network 13.

[0080] The network system 14 includes an access point (AP) 31, acustomer database (C-DB) 32, a customer registration web server 33 and aregistration authentication platform (RAP) 34.

[0081] The access point 31 is connected to the public network 13. Thecustomer database 32 records several kinds of information of a user whohas purchased the video camera 11. The customer registration web server33 controls a registration process of the video camera 11. Theregistration authentication platform 34 executes an authenticationprocess of the user in the network system 14.

[0082] While, in the example of FIG. 2, the access point 31, customerdatabase 32, customer registration web server 33 and registrationauthentication platform 34 are formed individually, otherwise they canbe formed integrally.

[0083] The network service business center 15 has an image station 41for a video camera. The video camera image station 41 registers andmanages image data transmitted from the video camera 11.

[0084] The image station server 16 registers and manages image datatransmitted from a personal computer not shown.

[0085] The Internet service provider 17 includes an access point 51, acustomer database 52 and a mail server 53. The mail server 53 includes aPOP server 54, and an SMTP server (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) 55.

[0086] The access point 51 performs a communication process with thepublic network 13. The customer database 52 registers various kinds ofinformation of the user of the Internet service provider 17. The POPserver 54 principally manages a process of transmission and reception ofa mail to and from the video camera 11. The SMTP server 55 principallymanages transmission and reception of a mail to and from another SMTPserver (in the case of the present example, an SMTP server 65 of theInternet service provider 18).

[0087] The Internet service provider 18 includes an access point 61 anda customer database 62, and further includes a mail server 63 which inturn includes a POP server 64 and the SMTP server 65. This basicconfiguration is similar to that of the Internet service provider 17.

[0088] The information providing server 19 provides various kinds ofinformation regarding, for example, commodities of a predeterminedenterprise. The search server 20 provides a service of searching forvarious kinds of information laid open on the Internet 10.

[0089]FIG. 3 shows an example of a configuration of the video camera 11.The video camera 11 is a video tape recorder of the type integrated witha camera and has an accessing function to the Internet 10. Referring toFIG. 3, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 71 executes various processes inaccordance with programs stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 72 orprograms loaded in a RAM (Random Access Memory) 73. Also data necessaryfor execution of various processes by the CPU 71 and so forth are storedsuitably into the RAM 73. Data necessary to be kept stored also afterthe power supply is disconnected are stored into an EEPROM (ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read Only Memory) 74.

[0090] The CPU 71, ROM 72, RAM 73 and EEPROM 74 are connected to eachother by a bus 75. Also an input/output interface 76 is connected to thebus 75.

[0091] Further connected to the input/output interface 76 are aninputting section 77 including various buttons, switches and so forth,an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) unit 78, a speaker 79, an image pickupelement 80 formed from a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image pickupelement and so forth, a microphone 81 for fetching a sound signal, and acommunication section 82 which performs short distance radiocommunication with the Bluetooth adapter 12 in accordance with theBluetooth.

[0092] A recording and reproduction section 83 records image data pickedup by the image pickup element 80, sound data gathered by the microphone81 and so forth onto a cassette magnetic tape loaded therein. Further,the recording and reproduction section 83 reproduces image data andsound data recorded on a cassette magnetic tape, and outputs an imagecorresponding to the video data to the LCD unit 78 so that the imagedata are displayed on the LCD unit 78 while it supplies the sound datato the speaker 79 so that the sound data are outputted from the speaker79.

[0093] A memory card interface 84 executes, when a memory card 85 as aportable semiconductor memory is loaded therein, a writing process and areading out process of data into and from the memory card 85. Into thememory card 85, not only image data picked up by the image pickupelement 80 and sound data gathered by the microphone 81 can be recorded,but also various kinds of data acquired from the communication section82 through the Internet 10 can be stored.

[0094] Image data picked up by the image pickup element 80 are storedinto the memory card 85 where a memory mode is set, but are recordedonto the cassette magnetic tape where a camera mode is set.

[0095] An encoder/decoder 86 encodes or decodes image data in accordancewith the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) system or the JEPG (JointPhotographic Coding Experts Group) system.

[0096] When necessary, a drive 87 is connected to the input/outputinterface 76, and a magnetic disk 91, an optical disk 92, amagneto-optical disk 93 or a semiconductor memory 94 is suitably loadedinto the input/output interface 76 and a computer program read out fromit is installed into the RAM 73 when necessary.

[0097]FIG. 4 shows an example of a configuration of the customerregistration web server 33. Referring to FIG. 4, a CPU 111 executesvarious processes in accordance with programs stored in a ROM 112 orprograms loaded into a RAM 113 from a storage section 118. Also datanecessary for execution of various processes by the CPU 111 and so forthare stored suitably into the RAM 113.

[0098] The CPU 111, ROM 112 and RAM 113 are connected to each other by abus 114. Also an input/output interface 115 is connected to the bus 114.

[0099] Further connected to the input/output interface 115 are aninputting section 116 formed from a keyboard, a mouse and so forth, anoutputting section 117 formed from a display unit such as a CRT or anLCD unit, a speaker and so forth, a storage section 118 formed from ahard disk or the like, and a communication section 119 formed from amodem, a terminal adapter and so forth. The communication section 119performs a communication process through a network including theInternet 10.

[0100] When necessary, a drive 120 is connected to the input/outputinterface 115, and a magnetic disk 131, an optical disk 132, amagneto-optical disk 133 or a semiconductor memory 134 is suitablyloaded into the input/output interface 115 and a computer program readout from it is installed into the storage section 118 when necessary.

[0101] Where the access point 31, customer database 32 and registrationauthentication platform 34 are formed separately from the customerregistration web server 33, though not shown, they have a configurationbasically similar to that of the customer registration web server 33.

[0102]FIG. 5 shows an example of a configuration of the video cameraimage station 41 which composes the network business center 15.Components of the video camera image station 41 from a CPU 151 to asemiconductor memory 174 have a configuration basically similar to thoseof the components of the customer registration web server 33 of FIG. 4from the CPU 111 to the semiconductor memory 134, and those elementshaving corresponding names have corresponding functions. Accordingly,description of them is omitted to avoid redundancy.

[0103]FIG. 6 shows an example of a configuration of the customerdatabase 52 of the Internet service provider 17. Also components of thecustomer database 52 from a CPU 191 to a semiconductor memory 214 have aconfiguration basically similar to that of the components of thecustomer registration web server 33 of FIG. 4 from the CPU 111 tosemiconductor memory 134, and those components having correspondingnames have corresponding functions. Therefore, overlapping descriptionof them is omitted to avoid redundancy.

[0104] Where the access point 51 and the mail server 53 (POP server 54and SMTP server 55) are formed separately from the customer database 52,also they have a configuration basically similar to that of the customerdatabase 52 of FIG. 6.

[0105] A user who has purchased the video camera 11 can enjoy a serviceprovided by the service providing system of FIG. 2. To this end, theuser of the video camera 11 will execute a process of registering thevideo camera 11 (the user thereof) into the network system 14. When thevideo camera 11 is purchased, the Bluetooth adapter 12 is annexed as anaccessory to the video camera 11 (if the Bluetooth adapter 12 is notannexed, then it is purchased separately), and the user can connect theBluetooth adapter 12 to the public network 13 to register the videocamera 11 (the user thereof) into the network system 14.

[0106] When this registration process is performed, a processillustrated in a flow chart of FIG. 7 is executed by the serviceproviding system. In particular, at step S1, a digital image customerregistration process is executed by the network system 14, and then atstep S2, an ISP connection registration process is executed by theInternet service provider 17. Thereafter, at step S3, an albumutilization registration process is executed by the network businesscenter 15.

[0107] Thus, the processes at steps S1 to S3 are described individuallybelow.

[0108] First, the digital image customer registration process by thenetwork system 14 is described with reference to flow charts of FIGS. 8and 9. FIG. 8 illustrates a process of the video camera 11 when theregistration process is performed, and FIG. 9 illustrates acorresponding process of the customer registration web server 33.

[0109] At step S11, the user of the video camera 11 will operate theinputting section 77 to issue an instruction to access the networksystem 14. The destination of the access is stored in advance in the ROM72. The CPU 71 controls the communication section 82 based on theinformation stored in the ROM 72 to issue an instruction to access theaccess point 31 of the network system 14. Upon reception of theinstruction, the communication section 82 communicates with theBluetooth adapter 12 through short distance communication to access theaccess point 31 of the network system 14 from the Bluetooth adapter 12through the public network 13.

[0110] A guest ID is utilized for this first time access to the networksystem 14. In particular, if the user inputs, for example, “GUEST” as anID, then the access point 31 permits the access. After the access point31 permits the access from the video camera 11, it passes the managementright for processing for the video camera 11 to the customerregistration web server 33.

[0111] The CPU 111 of the customer registration web server 33 issues, atthis time at step S31 of FIG. 9, a request to input personal informationto the user of the video camera 11. This request is outputted from thecommunication section 119 and transmitted to the video camera 11 throughthe access point 31, public network 13 and Bluetooth adapter 12.

[0112] Upon reception of the request from the communication section 82,the CPU 71 of the video camera 11 outputs a message corresponding to therequest to the LCD unit 78 so that the message is displayed on the LCDunit 78 at step S12.

[0113] The user of the video camera 11 will operate the inputtingsection 77 based on the message to input its personal information. Thepersonal information includes a registration code formed from 16numerical and alphabetical letters of the video camera 11 (theregistration code is carried on a post card annexed to the video camera11 when it is purchased), a zip code, the name, an address, the date ofbirth, the sex, a telephone number, an electronic mail address and soforth of the user, a product number (serial number) and the purchaseddate of the video camera 11, and so forth.

[0114] When such personal information is inputted, the CPU 71 of thevideo camera 11 causes the personal information to be transmitted to thenetwork system 14 at step S12.

[0115] In particular, the CPU 71 controls the communication section 82to transmit the inputted personal information to the network system 14.The personal information is supplied to the customer registration webserver 33 through the Bluetooth adapter 12, public network 13 and accesspoint 31.

[0116] The CPU 111 of the customer registration web server 33 acquiresthe personal information through the communication section 119 andsupplies the personal information to the RAM 113 so that the personalinformation is temporarily stored into the RAM 113 at step S31 of FIG.9.

[0117] After the personal information is registered into the RAM 113,the CPU 111 produces a personal information confirmation screen andcauses the personal information confirmation screen to be transmittedfrom the communication section 119 to the video camera 11 at step S32.The data of the personal information confirmation screen are suppliedfrom the access point 31 to the Bluetooth adapter 12 through the publicnetwork 13 and then transmitted from the Bluetooth adapter 12 to thevideo camera 11.

[0118] The CPU 71 of the video camera 11 receives the data of thepersonal information confirmation screen through the communicationsection 82 and stores the data once into the RAM 73 and then reads outand outputs the data to the LCD unit 78 so that the personal informationconfirmation screen is displayed on the LCD unit 78 at step S13 of FIG.8. Consequently, the personal information inputted by the user of thevideo camera 11 is displayed on the LCD unit 78 for confirmation by theuser.

[0119] If the user operates the inputting section 77 to input that thepersonal information inputted by the user itself has been confirmed,then the CPU 71 controls the communication section 82 to transmit theconfirmation signal to the customer registration web server 33.

[0120] The CPU 111 of the customer registration web server 33 receivesthe confirmation signal through the communication section 119 andtransfers the personal information registered in the RAM 113 to theregistration authentication platform 34 so that the personal informationis stored into the registration authentication platform 34 at step S32of FIG. 9.

[0121] Then at step S33, the registration authentication platform 34issues a temporary ID and a temporary password to the user of the videocamera 11. The temporary ID and the temporary password are supplied tothe customer registration web server 33 and outputted from thecommunication section 119 so that they are transmitted to the videocamera 11 through the access point 31, public network 13 and Bluetoothadapter 12.

[0122] The CPU 71 of the video camera 11 receives the temporary ID andthe temporary password from the communication section 82 and eithersupplies them to the LCD unit 78 so that they are displayed on the LCDunit 78 or supplies them to the EEPROM 74 so that they are stored intothe EEPROM 74 at step S14 of FIG. 8.

[0123] The registration authentication platform 34 supplies the personalinformation of the user of the video camera 11 to the customer database32 so that the personal information is registered into the customerdatabase 32 at step S33.

[0124] At step S34, the customer database 32 supplies the personalinformation to the video camera image station 41 of the network businesscenter 15 through the Internet 10.

[0125] The CPU 151 of the video camera image station 41 receives thepersonal information transmitted from the network system 14 through thecommunication section 159 and supplies the personal information to thestorage section 158 so that the personal information is stored into thestorage section 158 (at step S121 of FIG. 16 hereinafter described).

[0126] At step S35, the customer database 32 further transmits thepersonal information of the video camera 11 to the customer database 52of the Internet service provider 17.

[0127] The customer database 52 of the Internet service provider 17registers the personal information of the video camera 11 transmittedfrom the network system 14 through the Internet 10 (at step S71 of FIG.11 hereinafter described).

[0128] It is to be noted that, at step S36, when the personalinformation of the user of the video camera 11 is changed later in thenetwork business center 15, the customer database 32 of the networksystem 14 receives this from the video camera image station 41 throughthe Internet 10 and stores it into the customer database 32 itself.Further, the customer database 32 supplies the updated personalinformation from the Internet 10 to the customer database 52 of theInternet service provider 17 so that the changed personal information isregistered into the customer database 52.

[0129] On the contrary, since, when the user of the video camera 11changes the personal information, this is registered into the customerdatabase 52 in the Internet service provider 17, the customer database52 issues a notification of this to the customer database 32 of thenetwork system 14 through the Internet 10. The customer database 32overwrites the inputted personal information on the old personalinformation to update the personal information.

[0130] At this time, the customer database 32 further transmits theupdated personal information to the video camera image station 41 of thenetwork business center 15 through the Internet 10.

[0131] The video camera image station 41 updates the old personalinformation with the inputted personal information.

[0132] In this manner, if the personal information in the network system14, network business center 15 and Internet service provider 17 isupdated in any one of them, then this is reflected immediately on thereal time basis on the other two.

[0133] After the user of the video camera 11 is registered into thecustomer database 32 of the network system 14 in such a manner asdescribed above, the network system 14 thereafter issues a notificationof various kinds of information regarding the video camera 11 to theuser of the video camera 11 when necessary through the Internet 10 or bysuch means as a post card.

[0134] After the digital image customer registration process iscompleted in such a manner as described above, the ISP connectionregistration process is executed subsequently. In particular, when thecustomer registration process is completed, the customer registrationweb server 33 passes the management right for later processing for thevideo camera 11 to the customer database 52 of the Internet serviceprovider 17.

[0135] According, the ISP connection registration process is thereafterexecuted between the video camera 11 and the customer database 52 of theInternet service provider 17. FIG. 10 illustrates a process of the videocamera 11 in this instance, and FIG. 11 illustrates a correspondingprocess of the customer database 52.

[0136] After the CPU 191 of the customer database 52 of the Internetservice provider 17 receives the personal information transmitted fromthe customer database 32 of the network system 14 at step S35 of FIG. 9,it supplies the personal information to the storage section 198 so thatthe personal information is stored into the storage section 198 at stepS71 of FIG. 11.

[0137] When the personal information of the video camera 11 is receivedat step S71, the customer database 52 of the Internet service provider17 issues a request to the video camera 11 to input whether or not theuser already is a member of the Internet service provider 17 and input,if the user is a member, the user ID of the Internet service provider17.

[0138] The CPU 71 of the video camera 11 receives the request andoutputs a corresponding message to the LCD unit 78 so that the messageis displayed on the LCD unit 78 at step S51 of FIG. 10. The user willobserve the display and operate, if the user itself is a member of theInternet service provider 17 already, the inputting section 77 to inputits user ID. On the other hand, if the user is not a member, this willbe inputted. The CPU 71 of the video camera 11 discriminates, at stepS52, whether or not the user ID of the Internet service provider 17 isinputted. If it is inputted that the user is not a member of theInternet service provider 17, then the CPU 71 controls the communicationsection 82 to transmit a notification of this to the customer database52 of the Internet service provider 17 at step S53.

[0139] The CPU 191 of the customer database 52 receives this inputthrough the communication section 199 and discriminates that the user isnot a member of the Internet service provider 17 at step S72 of FIG. 11.Thereafter, the processing advances to step S73, at which the CPU 191causes personal information for entry into the Internet service provider17 to be transmitted. As this personal information, the informationtransmitted from the network system 14 by the process at step S35 ofFIG. 9 and received and stored at step S71 is used basically as it is.

[0140] The CPU 71 of the video camera 11 receives the personalinformation for entry into the Internet service provider 17 through thecommunication section 82 and outputs the personal information to the LCDunit 78 so that the personal information is displayed on the LCD unit 78at step S54 of FIG. 10.

[0141] This personal information is basically free from an error becauseit was inputted by the user of the video camera 11 when it performed itsuser registration into the network system 14. However, to make sure, theuser will observe the display and discriminate whether or not thepersonal information need be corrected. If the personal information needbe corrected, then the user will operate the inputting section 77 toinput correction.

[0142] Thus, at step S55, the CPU 71 of the video camera 11discriminates whether or not correction is inputted. If correction isinputted, then the CPU 71 controls the communication section 82 totransmit the corrected item to the customer database 52 of the Internetservice provider 17 at step S56. If correction is not inputted, then theprocess at step S56 is skipped.

[0143] The CPU 191 of the customer database 52 of the Internet serviceprovider 17 discriminates at step S74 of FIG. 11 whether or notcorrection is received through the communication section 199. Ifcorrection is received, then the CPU 191 corrects the registeredpersonal information based on the received contents of the correction atstep S75. If correction is not received, then the process at step S75 isskipped.

[0144] As the personal information, the personal information when theuser who purchased the video camera 11 performed its user registrationinto the network system 14 is displayed basically as it is as describedhereinabove (from within the personal information, only that informationwhich is necessary for the user to become an Internet service providermember is displayed). Accordingly, the user need not input itemsbasically similar to the items which were inputted for user registrationinto the network system 14 again in order to become a member of theInternet service provider 17. Accordingly, the operability is improved.

[0145] Then at step S57, the CPU 71 of the video camera 11 controls theLCD unit 78 to display a message for urging the user to input a username and a password in accordance with an input guidance from thecustomer database 52. The user of the video camera 11 will operate theinputting section 77 in accordance with the message to input the username and the password which the user uses when it utilizes the Internetservice provider 17. The CPU 71 controls the communication section 82 totransmit the user name and the password thus inputted to the customerdatabase 52 of the Internet service provider 17.

[0146] The CPU 191 of the customer database 52 receives, at step S76,the user name and the password through the communication section 199 anddiscriminates based on the data stored in the storage section 198whether or not the user name and the password are already used by someother user. If they are used, then a message representing this istransmitted from the communication section 199 to the video camera 11.

[0147] The CPU 71 of the video camera 11 receives the message throughthe communication section 82 and controls the LCD unit 78 to display themessage. The user of the video camera 11 will observe the display, andif it discriminates that the user name and the password inputted areregistered already, then it will input a new user name and a newpassword.

[0148] When the user name and the password are transmitted from thevideo camera 11 in such a manner as described above, the CPU 191 of thecustomer database 52 acquires them through the communication section 199at step S76 of FIG. 11 and determines a user ID based on the user nameat step S77. This user ID is a user ID as a member of the Internetservice provider 17.

[0149] In the present service providing system, a common ID and a commonpassword can be used in the network system 14, network business center15 and Internet service provider 17. However, as described hereinabove,at the stage wherein user registration is performed into the networksystem 14, a temporary ID and a temporary password are already set tothe user of the video camera 11 (at step S14 of FIG. 8, and at step S33of FIG. 9).

[0150] In order to allow the user to enjoy a service provided by theInternet service provider 17 based on the temporary ID and the temporarypassword, the CPU 191 produces, at step S78, a table which describes amatching relationship for matching the temporary ID and the temporarypassword issued by the network system 14 at step S33 of FIG. 9 andreceived by the process at step S71 with the user ID determined at stepS77, and registers the table into the ISP connection.

[0151] Consequently, when the user of the video camera 11 accesses theInternet service provider 17 based on the temporary ID and the temporarypassword issued from the network system 14 at step S33 of FIG. 9 andreceived by the video camera 11 at step S14 of FIG. 8, the customerdatabase 52 searches for the user ID corresponding to the temporary IDand the temporary password from the table to allow the user of the videocamera 11 to utilize a service provided by the Internet service provider17.

[0152] When registration of the user of the video camera 11 as a memberof the Internet service provider 17 is completed in such a manner asdescribed above, the CPU 191 transmits, at step S79, setting informationnecessary for accessing to the Internet service provider 17 to the videocamera 11.

[0153] The CPU 71 of the video camera 11 receives the Internet serviceprovider setting information from the Internet service provider 17 andoutputs it to the LCD unit 78 so that the Internet service providersetting information is displayed on the LCD unit 78 at step S58 of FIG.10. Consequently, the user can confirm the Internet service providersetting information. The Internet service provider setting informationdescribes, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, PPP login, a PPP password,an access point telephone number, a POP ID, a POP password, an E-mailaddress, a POP server, an SMTP mail server, a news server and so forth.

[0154] The user of the video camera 11 will take a note of the contentsshown in FIG. 12 when necessary and operate the inputting section 77 tooutput a signal of confirmation to the Internet service provider 17.

[0155] The customer database 52 of the Internet service provider 17transmits video camera setting information at step S80.

[0156] The video camera 11 receives the video camera setting informationand controls the LCD unit 78 to display the camera setting informationat step S59 of FIG. 10.

[0157]FIG. 13 illustrates an example of the video camera settinginformation transmitted from the customer database 52 to the videocamera 11 in this manner. In the example illustrated, the video camerasetting information is composed of a DI customer ID, a DI password andan access point telephone number.

[0158] The access point telephone number represents a telephone numberof a point to be accessed when the video camera 11 establishes aconnection to the Internet 10, more particularly of the access point 51of the Internet service provider 17.

[0159] The user of the video camera 11 will operate the inputtingsection 77 to set the video camera setting information displayed in thismanner as a requirement for connection to the Internet 10 to the videocamera 11 at step S60 of FIG. 10. This setting is stored into the EEPROM74.

[0160] For example, in order for the user who has purchased a personalcomputer to establish a connection to the Internet 10 through a generalservice provider (in the example of FIG. 2, the Internet serviceprovider 18), it must set such totaling 12 items including an ID for PPPconnection, a password for PPP connection, an access point telephonenumber, a Primary DNS server, a Secondary DNS server, a Proxy Server, aPort Number, an ID for POP authentication, a password for POPauthentication, a POP server, an SMTP server and a mail address as shownin FIG. 14A. However, as described above, where the user who haspurchased the video camera 11 performs the ISP connection registrationprocess, it is necessary for the user of the video camera 11 only to setsuch three items including a Unified ID (which corresponds to the DIcustomer ID in FIG. 13), a password (which corresponds to the DIpassword in FIG. 13) and an access point telephone number (whichcorresponds to the access point telephone number in FIG. 13) as shown inFIG. 14B. Accordingly, even if the user is unfamiliar to such settingoperation, it can perform operation for connection to the Internetsimply.

[0161] Where the user itself of the video camera 11 is a member of theInternet service provider 17 already, it will operate the inputtingsection 77 based on the request from the customer database 52 to inputthe user ID of the Internet service provider 17. Thus, in this instance,the CPU 71 of the video camera 11 acquires the user ID of the Internetservice provider 17 inputted from the user and controls thecommunication section 82 to transmit the user ID of the Internet serviceprovider 17 to the customer database 52 at step S61 of FIG. 10.

[0162] The CPU 191 of the customer database 52 of the Internet serviceprovider 17 receives and acquires the user ID of the Internet serviceprovider 17 transmitted from the video camera 11 at step S81 of FIG. 11,and produces a table which describes a matching relationship between theInternet service provider ID of the user and the temporary ID and thetemporary password included in the personal information of the userreceived by the process at step S71 and registers the table into the ISPconnection at step S82.

[0163] The user will operate the inputting section 77 to set the videocamera setting information as a requirement for connection to theInternet 10 at step S60 to the video camera 11. This setting is storedinto the EEPROM 74. In order to allow the user to enjoy a service of theInternet service provider 17 based on the temporary ID and the temporarypassword, the CPU 191 produces a table which describes a matchingrelationship for matching the temporary ID and the temporary passwordissued from the network system 14 at step S33 of FIG. 9 and received bythe process at step S71 with the Internet service provider ID of theuser and registers the table into the ISP connection at step S82.

[0164] The CPU 191 of the customer database 52 advances its processingafter the process at step S80 or S82 of FIG. 11 to step S83, at which ittransmits the information registered by the processing till then or,where the registration information is updated by the user, the updatedinformation, to the network system 14.

[0165] The registration authentication platform 34 of the network system14 receives the registration information from the Internet serviceprovider 17 and registers it into the customer database 32. Further, theregistration authentication platform 34 transmits the registrationinformation to the video camera image station 41 of the network businesscenter 15 so that the registration information may be reflected on thevideo camera image station 41.

[0166] Subsequently to such an ISP connection registration process, thealbum utilization registration process is executed. The albumutilization registration is further described with reference to flowcharts of FIGS. 15 and 16. FIG. 15 illustrates an album utilizationregistration process of the video camera 11 while FIG. 16 illustrates acorresponding album utilization registration process of the video cameraimage station 41.

[0167] After the simple registration process of the Internet serviceprovider, the CPU 191 of the customer database 52 of the Internetservice provider 17 passes the management right for processing of thevideo camera 11 to the video camera image station 41 of the networkbusiness center 15.

[0168] The CPU 151 of the video camera image station 41 receives thepersonal information of the video camera 11 transmitted from thecustomer database 32 of the network system 14 at step S34 of FIG. 34through the communication section 159 and supplies the personalinformation to the storage section 158 so that the personal informationis stored into the storage section 158 at step S121 of FIG. 16. The CPU151 reads out the name and the mail address of the received personalinformation and transmits them to the video camera 11 at step S122.

[0169] After the CPU 71 of the video camera 11 receives the name and themail address from the video camera image station 41, it outputs them tothe LCD unit 78 so that they are displayed on the LCD unit 78 at stepS101. The user of the video camera 11 will observe the display todiscriminate whether or not the name and the mail address of the useritself are correct. It is to be noted that the mail address (E-mailaddress) is an E-mail address (FIG. 12) set in the member registrationinto the Internet service provider 17.

[0170] When the user of the video camera 11 confirms that the name andthe mail address are correct, it will operate the inputting section 77to input, if it acknowledges that the name and the mail address are usedfor album utilization registration, this. Thus, at step S102, the CPU 71discriminates whether or not acknowledgement is inputted. Ifacknowledgement is inputted, then the processing advances to step S103,at which the CPU 71 causes an acknowledgement signal corresponding tothe input to be transmitted to the video camera image station 41.

[0171] On the other hand, if the user does not acknowledge the albumutilization registration, then the user will operate the inputtingsection 77 to input this. At this time, the CPU 71 causes anon-acknowledgement signal, which represents that the album utilizationregistration has not been acknowledged, to be transmitted to the videocamera image station 41 at step S104.

[0172] The CPU 151 of the video camera image station 41 discriminates atstep S123 of FIG. 16 whether or not an acknowledgement signal isinputted. If an acknowledgement signal is inputted, then the processingadvances to step S124, at which the personal information received atstep S121 is stored into the storage section 158.

[0173] On the other hand, if it is discriminated at step S123 that anacknowledgement signal is not inputted, then the process at step S124 isskipped.

[0174] The personal information corresponding to the temporary ID andthe temporary password issued by the network system 14 is registeredinto the video camera image station 41 in this manner.

[0175] Thereafter, at step S125, the CPU 151 of the video camera imagestation 41 transmits, if it is inputted from the user that theregistration information should be updated, this to the network system14.

[0176] The customer database 32 of the network system 14 registers theupdate information into the customer database 32 itself and transmits itto the customer database 52 of the Internet service provider 17 so thatit is registered into the customer database 52.

[0177] It is to be noted that, after the temporary ID and the temporarypassword are issued, the customer database 32 of the network system 14sends a post card, on which the regular ID and the regular password arecarried, to the address of the user. When the user receives the postcard, it will replace the temporary ID and the temporary password withand utilize the regular ID and the regular password.

[0178] After the regular ID and the regular password are issued, thecustomer database 32 transmits them to the network business center 15and the Internet service provider 17 through the Internet 10. In thenetwork business center 15 and the Internet service provider 17, theregular ID and the regular password are registered individually. Thetemporary ID and the temporary password can be utilized only for apredetermined period of time (for example, for two weeks) after they areissued, and the network system 14, network business center 15 andInternet service provider 17 individually consider the temporary ID andthe temporary password valid only for two weeks and reject accessingthereof if the temporary ID and the temporary password are used afterthe valid period elapses.

[0179] It is to be noted that, while, in the foregoing description, userregistration is performed from the video camera 11 into the networksystem 14, it is otherwise possible to perform registration from apersonal computer through the Internet 10 or registration by a postcard.

[0180] Subsequently, a process when the video camera 11 establishes aconnection to the network system 14, network business center 15 orInternet service provider 17 is described with reference to a flow chartof FIG. 17. The user will operate the inputting section 77 to input thetemporary ID and the temporary password allocated upon user registrationinto the network system 14 (or the regular ID and the regular passwordset later). At step S141, the CPU 71 acquires the ID and the passwordinputted based on the operation of the inputting section 77 by the user.Further, at step S142, the CPU 71 discriminates whether or not theaccess destination designated by the user is the Internet serviceprovider 17.

[0181] If the access destination is the Internet service provider 17,then the processing advances to step S143, at which the CPU 71 executesa process of using the inputted ID and password to access the Internetservice provider 17.

[0182] If it is discriminated at step S142 that the access designationis not the Internet service provider 17, then the processing advances tostep S144, at which the CPU 71 discriminates whether or not the accessdestination is the network system 14. If the access destination is thenetwork system 14, then the processing advances to step S145, at whichthe CPU 71 access the network system 14 based on the guest ID andpassword stored in advance in the ROM 72. Similarly, if it isdiscriminated at step S144 that the access destination is not thenetwork system (if it is discriminated that the access destination isthe network business center 15), the processing advances to step S146,at which the CPU 71 makes use of the ID and the password acquired atstep S141 to access the network business center 15 through the Internetservice provider 17.

[0183] In this manner, in the present service providing system, the usercan enjoy a service provided using a temporary ID and a temporarypassword (same ID and password) issued upon user registration into thenetwork system 14 as the IDs and the passwords for the network system14, network business center 15 and Internet service provider 17 as seenin FIG. 18.

[0184] Incidentally, the user can transmit (upload) image data such asmoving pictures or still pictures picked up by the video camera 11 andstored in the memory card 85 so that the image data are stored into thevideo camera image station 41. The video camera image station 41 storesimage data separately for different users in the storage section 158.When a user stores image data into the storage section 158 of the videocamera image station 41, each user has an upper limit (for example, 500MB) to the storage capacity available to the user, and the user canfreely store image data or read, download or delete stored image datawithin the range of the storage capacity.

[0185] It is to be noted that the user can store not only image datapicked up using the video camera 11 but also image data picked up usingsome other image pickup apparatus or image data acquired through theInternet 10 into the video camera image station 41.

[0186] Further, each user of the video camera image station 41 can storea plurality of image data for each user in a form classified in some of10 groups. Therefore, when a user wants to read particular image datafrom among the stored image data, it can operate the video camera 11 insuch a sense as to pick up and read a desired album (group) from amongseveral albums (groups) arranged for individual themes, and can registeror search out desired image data rapidly.

[0187] It is to be noted that such a group as mentioned above ishereinafter referred to as album.

[0188] If the user operates the inputting section 77 to issue aninstruction to read out a still image fetched by the image pickupelement 80 and recorded on the memory card 85, then the CPU 71 reads outthe image recorded on the memory card 85 and causes the LCD unit 78 todisplay the image. FIG. 19 illustrates an example of a display in thisinstance. Referring to FIG. 19, a battery remaining amount indication301 is displayed at a left upper portion, and an image ID 302 isdisplaced just below the battery remaining amount indication 301, andthe consecutive number of the displayed image and an image number 303representative of the number of images stored in the memory card 85 aredisplayed at a right upper portion. In particular, the battery remainingamount indication 301 displays the remaining capacity of a battery (notshown) which serves as a power supplying source when the video camera 11is driven. The image ID 302 of “DSC00034” is an identification numberwhich is automatically allocated to the picked up image by the CPU 71.The image number 303 “29/30” represents that 30 image data are recordedin the memory card 85 and what is currently displayed on the LCD unit 78is image data picked up 29th among them.

[0189] At a lower portion of FIG. 19, a minus button 304, a plus button305, a network button 306, an image pickup button 307, an index button308 and a function button 309 are displayed in order from the left (inthe following description, a button displayed on the LCD unit 78 likethe buttons mentioned is referred to as displayed button) The user canoperate a predetermined button of the inputting section 77 to adjust acursor to an arbitrary one of such displayed buttons and decide it sothat a process corresponding to the selected displayed button isperformed. When the cursor is adjusted, the display color of thedisplayed button changes to a different color, and therefore, the usercan identify that the cursor is adjusted to the displayed button(identify the cursor from the color).

[0190] If the user inputs a predetermined operation from the inputtingsection 77 (operates a + button not shown) to select the minus button304, then the CPU 71 reads out image data whose consecutive number issmaller by one than that of the image which has been displayed till thenfrom the memory card 85 and controls the LCD unit 78 to display theimage data. However, when the minus button 304 is selected, if theconsecutive number of the image having been displayed is 1, the CPU 71reads out image data having the greatest consecutive number from thememory card 85 and causes the image data to be displayed.

[0191] If the user inputs a predetermined operation from the inputtingsection 77 and selects the plus button 305, the CPU 71 reads out imagedata having a consecutive number greater by one than that of image datahaving been displayed till then from the memory card 85 and causes theimage data to be displayed. However, when the plus button 305 isselected, if the consecutive number of the image having been displayedis the greatest consecutive number, the CPU 71 reads out image datawhose consecutive number is 1 from the memory card 85 and causes theimage data to be displayed.

[0192] If an operation for selecting the image pickup button 307 of FIG.19 is inputted through the inputting section 77, the CPU 71 starts aseries of processes for driving the image pickup element 80 so that animage of an image pickup object can be picked up.

[0193] If the index button 308 is selected, then the CPU 71 controls theLCD unit 78 to display indices to image data (including still picturesand moving pictures) recorded on the memory card 85 as displayedbuttons. If one of the displayed buttons of the displayed indices isselected, then the CPU 71 reads out image data corresponding to theselected displayed button from the memory card 85 and controls the LCDunit 78 to display the image data.

[0194] If the function button 309 is selected, then the CPU 71 controlsthe LCD unit 78 to display a screen for guiding a change in setting ofvarious functions of the video camera 11 such as, for example, selectivesetting of an image pickup method in accordance with an image pickupenvironment, erasure of picked up image data and time setting.

[0195] If the network button 306 is selected, then the CPU 71 controlsthe LCD unit 78 to change over the screen displayed on the LCD unit 78from the screen of FIG. 19 to such a screen of a network menu as shownin FIG. 20. In FIG. 20, a screen title 321 is displayed at an upperportion of the screen, and a mail button 322, a Web album button 323, abrowser button 324 and a setting button 325 are displayed at a centralportion of the screen while an end button 326 is displayed at a rightlower portion of the screen. If the user inputs a predeterminedoperation from the inputting section 77 to select the mail button 322,then the CPU 71 starts a series of processes for performing transmissionand reception of an electronic mail through the Internet serviceprovider 17. If the browser button 324 is selected by the user, then theCPU 71 establishes a connection to the information providing server 19or the search server 20 desired by the user through the Internet 10 andcontrols the LCD unit 78 to display information acquired through theconnection.

[0196] If the Web album button 323 is selected by the user, then the CPU71 accesses the video camera image station 41 of the network businesscenter 15 to execute an image reading/editing process which ishereinafter described.

[0197] If the setting button 325 is selected by the user, then the CPU71 starts a process of changing the setting of one of the video camera11, network system 14, Internet service provider 17 and network businesscenter 15 regarding the network functions (functions including thefunctions regarding a mail, a browser and a Web album described above).If the end button 326 is selected by the user, then the CPU 71 ends thedisplay of the screen of FIG. 20 and restores the screen of FIG. 19.

[0198] If the user selects the Web album button 323 on the displayexample of FIG. 20 through a predetermined operation of the inputtingsection 77, then the CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 to display such ascreen of a Web album menu as shown in FIG. 21. In particular, in thedisplay example of FIG. 21, a screen title 331, and an upload button332, a reading/editing button 333 and an end button 334, which aredisplayed buttons, are displayed. If a predetermined operation isinputted from the inputting section 77 to select the upload button 332,then the CPU 71 starts a series of upload processes of supplying imagedata including still pictures and moving pictures stored in the memorycard 85 to the Web album managed by the video camera image station 41 sothat the image data are stored into the Web albums.

[0199] If the user adjusts the cursor to the reading/editing button 333and decides it, then a series of processes regarding reading and editingof a Web album which are hereinafter described are started. If the endbutton 334 is selected, then the CPU 71 erases the screen of FIG. 21displayed on the LCD unit 78 to restore the screen of FIG. 20.

[0200] Subsequently, an image data reading and editing process in whichthe video camera 11 is used is described with reference to flow chartsof FIGS. 22 to 26. FIGS. 22 to 25 illustrate a process of the videocamera 11 when a reading/editing process is performed while FIG. 26illustrates a corresponding process of the video camera image station41.

[0201] If it is assumed that the user selects the reading/editing button333 on the display example of FIG. 21, then the CPU 71 performs theseries of accessing processes described hereinabove with reference tothe flow chart of FIG. 17 to access the video camera image station 41 ofthe network business center 15 and issue a request to transmit an imageof an album selection page at step S161.

[0202] It is to be noted that communication from the video camera 11 tothe video camera image station 41 is performed from the Bluetoothadapter 12 through the public network 13, access point 51 of theInternet service provider 17 and the Internet 10 after the communicationsection 82 of the video camera 11 performs short distance radiocommunication with the Bluetooth adapter 12. On the contrary,communication from the video camera image station 41 to the video camera11 is performed to the communication section 82 of the video camera 11through the Internet 10, access point 51 of the Internet serviceprovider 17, public network 13 and Bluetooth adapter 12.Transmission/reception between the video camera 11 and the video cameraimage station 41 are performed basically along this communication paths.

[0203] In the following description, where there is no necessity toprovide particular description, description of the Bluetooth adapter 12,public network 13, access point 51 of the Internet service provider 17,and Internet 10 is omitted.

[0204] Until after a communication line between the video camera 11 andthe video camera image station 41 is connected, the CPU 71 of the videocamera 11 controls the LCD unit 78 to display such an image as shown inFIG. 27. In the example of FIG. 27, a guide indication 351 of “Dialing .. . ” is displayed. While the screen shown in FIG. 27 is displayed, theuser can interrupt accessing to the video camera image station 41 at anytime by selecting a cancel button 352 at the lower portion. If thecancel button 352 is operated, then the CPU 71 returns the screen to bedisplayed on the LCD unit 78 to the screen shown in FIG. 21.

[0205] If the video camera image station 41 of the network businesscenter 15 is accessed from the video camera 11 through the communicationsection 159, then the CPU 151 refers to the personal information of theusers stored in the storage section 158 to specify the user from the IDand the password included in the access information at step S201.

[0206] While the video camera image station 41 performs a process ofspecifying the user, the CPU 71 of the video camera 11 controls the LCDunit 78 to display a guide indication 361 of “Authenticating the ID andthe password” as shown in FIG. 28. It is to be noted that, while thescreen shown in FIG. 28 is displayed, the user can select a cancelbutton 362 at a lower portion to interrupt the communication with thevideo camera image station 41 at any time. When the cancel button 362 isoperated, the CPU 71 returns the screen to be displayed on the LCD unit78 to the screen shown in FIG. 21.

[0207] The video camera image station 41 manages registered users andalbums of the individual users in a matching relationship, and at stepS202, the CPU 151 of the video camera image station 41 reads out animage of the album selection page corresponding to the user specified atstep S201 and incidental information to each album from the storagesection 158 and transmits them to the video camera 11.

[0208] The CPU 71 of the video camera 11 acquires the image of the albumselection page and the incidental information supplied from the videocamera image station 41 through the communication section 82 at stepS162, and controls the LCD unit 78 to display the image of the albumselection page and urge the user to select an album at step S163.

[0209]FIG. 29 shows an example of an image of the album selection pagedisplayed on the LCD unit 78. Referring to FIG. 29, a horizontal scrollbar 371 and a vertical scroll bar 372 are displayed on the screen. Inthe screen 373, album indices 374 to 378 are displayed. Further, a timeindication 379 for indicating the connection time to the present time isdisplayed at an upper portion of the screen.

[0210] It is to be noted that, while the time indication 379 isdisplayed also in the drawings used in the following description,description thereof is omitted suitably to avoid redundancy.

[0211] If the user inputs a predetermined operation to move the bar ofthe horizontal scroll bar 371 in a horizontal direction or move thevertical scroll bar 372 in a vertical direction, then the CPU 71 causesthe display of the screen 373 to be scrolled in the horizontal orvertical direction.

[0212] When the user stores image data into the video camera imagestation 41, it can select a desired album from among a plurality ofalbums and store the image data into the selected album, and the albumindices 374 to 378 are indices of the albums into which image data areto be stored in this manner.

[0213] An “Album 1 (8 images)” displayed on the album index 374represents that the album name is “Album 1” and the number of imagesincluded in the Album 1 is 8. The album name may be varied to a namedesired by the user by inputting a predetermined operation from theinputting section 77. Also the indications of the album indices 375 to378 each represents an album name and the number of images included inthe album similarly.

[0214] While, in FIG. 29, five album indices having album names of Album1 to Album 5 are displayed, by scrolling the screen downwardly by apredetermined operation of the inputting section 77, album indices forthe Album 6 and so forth (for example, up to the Album 10) can bedisplayed.

[0215] It is to be noted that the number of albums is not limited to thenumber (10) specified as above, but can be set arbitrarily by anundertaker by which the video camera image station 41 is managed.

[0216] At step S164, the CPU 71 of the video camera 11 waits until anoperation of selecting an album by the user is inputted from theinputting section 77.

[0217]FIG. 30 shows an example of a screen displayed on the LCD unit 78in a waiting state. The screen is same as that of FIG. 29 except that acursor 380 is adjusted to the album index 376. The user can select analbum by adjusting the cursor 380 to an album to be read and edited by apredetermined operation of the inputting section 77, and when the cursor380 is adjusted to an album, the album is displayed in a distinct mannerfrom the other album indices.

[0218] On the album selection page, the number of image data included ineach album is displayed on the right side of the name, and an album inwhich no image data is stored, that is, an album with regard to which “0image” is displayed in the parentheses on the right side (for example,the “Album 4” of the album index 377), can be distinguished at a glance.However, the user may possibly select the album in error.

[0219] Therefore, if the user inputs an operation of adjusting thecursor 380 to a desire album (for example, the album index 377) from theinputting section 77, then the CPU 71 discriminates, at step S165, basedon incidental information acquired from the video camera image station41 at step S162 and corresponding to the individual albums, whether ornot the selected album includes one or more images. If it isdiscriminated that the selected album includes no image, then theprocessing advances to step S166, at which the CPU 71 controls the LCDunit 78 to display such an error message as shown in FIG. 31.

[0220] In the example of FIG. 31, a time indication 379 is displayed atan upper portion of the screen and an album index 381 “Album 4 (0image)” of the selected album is displayed below the time indication379, and a guide indication 382 “This album includes no image” isdisplayed at a central portion of the screen while a transition button383 is displayed at the lowest portion. The album index 381 “Album 4 (0image)” indicates that the album name is “Album 4” and the number ofimage data included in the Album 4 is 0. If inputting of selecting thetransition button 383 is performed by the user, then the processingreturns to step S163 so that the processes described above are repeated.

[0221] If the CPU 71 discriminates at step S165 that the selected albumincludes an image, then the processing advances to step S167.

[0222] At step S167, the CPU 71 issues a request to the video cameraimage station 41 through the communication section 82 to transmit dataof index images of the selected album.

[0223] At step S203, the CPU 151 of the video camera image station 41reads out data of the index images of the album of the object of therequest and image IDs corresponding to the images (information includingthe file size of each image data and information regarding the format)from the storage section 158 and controls the communication section 159to supply the information to the video camera 11.

[0224] After the data of the index images of the album and the image IDscorresponding to the images are acquired through the communicationsection 82 at step S168, the CPU 71 controls, at step S169, the LCD unit78 to display the index images of the album acquired at step S168 andurge the user to select an image to be downloaded.

[0225] FIGS. 32 to 36 show examples of the index images displayed on theLCD unit 78.

[0226] Referring to FIG. 32, an album index 391 “Album 3 (9 images)” isdisplayed at a left upper portion and a displayed page number 392 “1/3page” is displayed just below the album index 391, and a transitionbutton 393 “To the album selection page” is displayed at a rightportion. Further, index images 394 to 399 are displayed on the screen.Below each image, a square check box and information regarding the image(the data amount and the extension of the file) are displayed.

[0227] In FIG. 32, the album index 391 indicates the name of thedisplayed album, that is, of the album selected by the user at stepS164. The displayed page number 392 “1/3 page” displayed just below thealbum index 391 indicates that the Album 3 includes 3 pages and thefirst page among them is displayed at present.

[0228] If the transition button 393 is selected by the user, then theprocessing returns to step S163, at which the CPU 71 controls the LCDunit 78 to display an image of the album selection page of FIG. 29.

[0229] At a central portion of the screen of FIG. 32, six index images(thumbnail, images), that is, index images 394 to 399 are displayed, andbelow each index image, a square check box and the file size and theformat of the image data are displayed. For example, in the case of theindex image 394, “300 KB JPG” is displayed, and this indicates that thefile size (data amount) is 300 KB and the extension of the file is JPG.This extension represents a compression method of the data, and JPGindicates that the compression method is the JPEG.

[0230] It is to be noted that, where image data recorded in the videocamera image station 41 are a still picture, image data whose size isreduced to reduce the file size are used for the index image.

[0231] Where corresponding image data recorded in the video camera imagestation 41 are moving pictures, image data of an image of a frameselected arbitrarily from among the moving pictures by the user whichhave a reduced size are produced and used as an index image.

[0232] The user can designate an index image of an image to bedownloaded (or deleted) from the album by inserting a check into a checkbox positioned below the index image by a predetermined operation of theinputting section 77. If such designation is performed, then the CPU 71causes a mark x to be displayed in the check box immediately below theindex image as indicated, for example, by the index image 397.

[0233] Incidentally, while, for example, the Album 3 includes nineimages as seen from “Album 3 (9 images)” displayed for the album index391, the LCD unit 78 cannot sometimes display nine index images(thumbnail images) at a time. In such an instance, if the user inputs apredetermined operation from the inputting section 77, then the CPU 71scrolls the displayed screen in a horizontal direction so that theremaining images on the other page are displayed.

[0234] Also it is possible to scroll the displayed screen in a verticaldirection by inputting a predetermined operation from the inputtingsection 77. If the displayed screen is scrolled in a vertical direction,then the screen shown in FIG. 33 is displayed on the LCD unit 78.

[0235] Referring to FIG. 33, the three index images 397 to 399 displayedat a lower portion in FIG. 32 are displayed at an upper portion of thescreen, and the album index 391 “Album 3 (9 images)” is displayed at acentral portion of the screen. Just below the album index 391, a pagenumber 411 is displayed. The album index 391 and the page number 411individually correspond to those displayed in FIG. 32.

[0236] At a lower portion of FIG. 33, an all selection button 412, anall clear button 413, a deletion button 414 and a download button 415which are displayed buttons are displayed.

[0237] If the user inputs a predetermined operation to the inputtingsection 77 to select the all selection button 412, then the CPU 71places a check into the check boxes of all of the images in thedisplayed page. In contrast, if the user selects the all clear button413, then the CPU 71 erases, if a check is displayed in one or more ofthe check boxes in the displayed page, all of the displayed checks.

[0238] Through the use of the all selection button 412 or the all clearbutton 413, when the user wants to place a check into the check boxes ofall of the images in the displayed page or erase such check or checks,the user can save the time to place (erase) a check for each one image.

[0239] If the deletion button 414 is selected by the user, then the CPU71 starts a process of erasing the image corresponding to each of thechecked index images from the album (hereinafter described as processesat steps beginning with step S188).

[0240] If the download button 415 is selected by the user, then the CPU71 starts a process of downloading image data of the image correspondingto each of the checked index images from the video camera image station41.

[0241] While, in the examples of the index image displayed on the LCDunit 78 shown in FIGS. 32 and 33, six index images in the maximum aredisplayed on the LCD unit 78, also it is possible to display, forexample, only one of the displayed index images in an enlarged scale.

[0242] For example, when the index image 397 is to be displayed in anenlarged scale, the cursor 421 is first adjusted to the index image 397by inputting a predetermined operation to the inputting section 77 fromthe user. FIG. 34 shows the index image 397 to which the cursor 421 isadjusted.

[0243] As shown in FIG. 34, the user can perform a predeterminedoperation of the inputting section 77 to input an operation of adjustingthe cursor 421 to a desired one of the index images and determining theindex image to display an image selected through the cursor 421 in anenlarged scale.

[0244] When the enlarging instruction is issued, the CPU 71 issues arequest for transmission of the enlarged image to the video camera imagestation 41, receives image data transmitted thereto in response to therequest and controls the LCD unit 78 to display the image data. FIG. 35shows an example of the display in this instance.

[0245] In FIG. 35, displayed buttons of a transition button 431“Backward”, another transition button 432 “Forward” and a furthertransition button 433 “To the index page” are displayed at an upperportion of the screen, and an enlarged index image 434 is displayed at acentral portion of the screen. Further, a horizontal scroll bar 371 anda vertical scroll bar 372 are displayed on the screen.

[0246] Images included in an album have predetermined consecutivenumbers assigned thereto in advance, and if an operation of selectingthe transition button 431 “Backward” is inputted from the inputtingsection 77, then the CPU 71 controls so that an index image having aconsecutive number preceding by one to that of the index image beingcurrently displayed is displayed in an enlarged scale. On the contrary,if an operation of selecting the transition button 432 “Forward” isinputted, then the CPU 71 controls so that an index image having aconsecutive number immediately succeeding to that of the currentlydisplayed index image.

[0247] If a predetermined operation of selecting the transition button433 “To the index page” at a right upper portion of the screen shown inFIG. 35 is inputted, then the CPU 71 controls so that the display isreturned to the screen of the list display of index images of FIG. 32.

[0248] The user can input a predetermined operation to the inputtingsection 77 to operate the vertical scroll bar 372 to scroll the screenshown in FIG. 35 downwardly. If this scrolling instruction is issued,then the CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 to display such a screen asshown in FIG. 36.

[0249] In FIG. 36, a portion lower than the index image 434 shown inFIG. 35 is displayed. Below the index image 434, a transition button 441“Backward” and another transition button 442 “Forward” are displayed.Further below them, image information 443, that is, the file size and anindication of the format “282 KB JPG” of the image, are displayed, and adeletion button 444 and a download button 445 are displayed at alowermost portion. The transition button 441 “Backward” and thetransition button 442 “Forward” have same functions as those of thetransition button 431 “Backward” and the transition button 432“Forward”, respectively.

[0250] The deletion button 444 and the download button 445 havefunctions same as those of the corresponding buttons of FIG. 33, thatis, the deletion button 414 and the download button 415, respectively.It is to be noted, however, that, while, in the example of FIG. 33, allof images corresponding to the index images having checks applied to thecheck boxes thereof are downloaded (or deleted) from the album, in theexample of FIG. 36, only an image corresponding to the index imagedisplayed in an enlarged scale is downloaded (or deleted).

[0251] In order to execute the processes described above, the CPU 71waits at step S170 that a displayed button is selected by the user. Whena displayed button is selected, the processing advances to step S171, atwhich the CPU 71 discriminates whether or not the displayed buttonselected by the user is the download button 415 (or download button445). If the displayed button selected by the user is the downloadbutton 415 (or download button 445), then the processing advances tostep S172, at which the CPU 71, discriminates whether or not an image tobe downloaded is selected. In particular, the CPU 71 discriminateswhether or not a check is placed in at least one or more of the checkboxes on the display example shown in FIG. 32 or 33.

[0252] It is to be noted that, if it is discriminated at step S170 thatthe image displayed on the LCD unit 78 when a displayed button isselected is the index image displayed in an enlarged scale as shown inFIG. 35 or 36, then the CPU 71 discriminates at step S172 that the indeximage displayed in an enlarged scale is selected.

[0253] If it is discriminated at step S172 that an image to bedownloaded is not selected, then the processing advances to step S173,at which the. CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 to display such an errormessage as shown in FIG. 37. In the display example of FIG. 37, a guideindication 451 “Please select an image” is displayed at a centralportion of the screen. If an input of selecting a OK button 452 belowthe guide indication 451 is performed by the user, then the processingreturns to step S169, at which the CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 todisplay such an index image or images as shown in one of FIGS. 32 to 36so that the processes described above are repeated.

[0254] If the CPU 71 discriminates at step S172 that an image to bedownloaded is selected, then the processing advances to step S174, atwhich the CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 to display such an image asshown in FIG. 38 and urges the user to perform selection of whether ornot downloading should be performed. As shown in FIG. 38, a guideindication 461 “Two (577 KB) images are stored into the memory card” andthe number (two) of images to be downloaded as well as a total file size(577 KB) of the image data to be downloaded are displayed at a centralportion of the screen. A cancel button 462 and an OK button 463 aredisplayed at a lower portion of the screen. The user can perform apredetermined operation to the inputting section 77 to select the cancelbutton 462 or the OK button 463. It is to be noted that, on the screenof FIG. 38, the cursor is adjusted to the cancel button 462 as default.Then, if it is determined which one of the cancel button 462 and the OKbutton 463 should be selected, the user can adjust the cursor to thedesired displayed button and depress a predetermined button of theinputting section 77 to decide the selection.

[0255] At step S175, the CPU 71 waits until an operation of deciding theselection is inputted to the inputting section 77 by the user. If anoperation of deciding the selection is inputted by the user, then theprocessing advances to step S176.

[0256] If it is discriminated at step S176 that the selection inputtedto the inputting section 77 by the user is not a downloading instruction(if it is discriminated that the cancel button 462 is selected), thenthe processing returns to step S169 so that the processes describedhereinabove are repeated.

[0257] If it is discriminated at step S176 that the selection inputtedto the inputting section 77 by the user is a downloading instruction (ifit is discriminated that the OK button 463 is selected), then theprocessing advances to step S177, at which the CPU 71 extracts thosecheck boxes for the index images shown in FIG. 32 or 33 in which a checkis placed. Then at step S178, the CPU 71 produces Form data of the HTML(Hyper Text Markup Language) which includes the check box informationextracted at step S177 and transmits the Form data to the video cameraimage station 41.

[0258] The CPU 151 of the video camera image station 41 is accessed fromthe video camera 11 at step S204 and discriminates at step S205 whetheror not the request from the video camera 11 is downloading of imagedata. If the CPU 151 discriminates that the request is downloading, thenthe processing advances to step S206.

[0259] The storage section 158 of the video camera image station 41stores the images in the album and the check boxes in a matchingrelationship, and at step S206, the CPU 151 of the video camera imagestation 41 reads out the check box information included in the Form dataof the HTML transmitted from the video camera 11 and transmits adownload list of the images corresponding to the check boxes to thevideo camera 11. It is to be noted that the download list is informationincluding the format of the image data, the file size and the URL(Uniform Resource Locator) of the accessing destination for accessingwhen the image data are to be downloaded.

[0260] The communication section 82 of the video camera 11 receives thedownload list of the selected images from the video camera image station41 at step S179.

[0261] At step S180, the CPU 71 analyzes the image information based onthe download list received at step S179. In particular, the CPU 71 picksup the download list corresponding to the image having the lowestconsecutive number from among the one or more images selected fordownloading and extracts information regarding the file size and theformat of the image.

[0262] It is to be noted that the information included in the downloadlist is not displayed on the LCD unit 78.

[0263] At step S181, the CPU 71 accesses the memory card 85 through thememory card interface 84 and calculates a free storage capacity of thememory card 85.

[0264] At step S182, the CPU 71 compares the file size of the imageanalyzed at step S180 with the free storage capacity of the memory card85 calculated at step S181 to discriminate whether or not the file sizeof the image is greater than the free storage capacity thereby todiscriminate the selected image can be recorded into the memory card 85.If the file size is greater than the free capacity, that is, if it isdiscriminated that the selected image cannot be recorded into the memorycard 85, then the processing advances to step S183, at which an errorprocess is executed.

[0265] In particular, the CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 to display ascreen shown in FIG. 39. In FIG. 39, a guide indication 481 “Thecapacity of the memory card is short” is displayed at a central portionof the screen. If an input of selecting an OK button 482 at a lowerportion is performed by the user, then the processing advances to stepS169 so that the processes described above are repeated.

[0266] If the CPU 71 discriminates at step S182 that the selected imagecannot be recorded into the memory card 85, then the processing advancesto step S184.

[0267] A list of downloadable formats for an image is stored in advancein the ROM 72, and at step S184, the CPU 71 refers to the list ofdownloadable formats for an image stored in the ROM 72 in advance todiscriminate whether or not the format of the image analyzed at stepS180 is a downloadable format. If the selected image data do not have adownloadable format, then the step S185 is skipped and the processingadvances to step S186.

[0268] If the CPU 71 discriminates at step S184 that the image data areimage data of a downloadable format, then the processing advances tostep S185, at which the CPU 71 reads out the URL corresponding to theimage to be downloaded from the download list acquired at step S179 andaccesses the corresponding URL of the video camera image station 41through the communication section 82.

[0269] At this time, the corresponding URL of the video camera imagestation 41 receives an access from the video camera 11 at step S207 andperforms a process of supplying image data to the video camera 11 fromthe accessed URL at step S208.

[0270] The video camera 11 starts downloading of the image data. Theimage data downloaded by the video camera 11 are recorded into thememory card 85 from the communication section 82 through the memory cardinterface 84.

[0271] It is to be noted that, during the downloading, the CPU 71controls the LCD unit 78 to display such a screen as shown in FIG. 40.In particular, a guide indication 501 “Storing into the memory card . .. ” is displayed at a central portion of the screen, and a cancel button502 is displayed at a lower portion. When the user wants to interruptthe downloading during the downloading, it can interrupt the downloadingby inputting a predetermined operation of selecting the cancel button502 from the inputting section 77. After the downloading is interrupted,the CPU 71 returns the processing to step S169 so that the processesdescribed hereinabove are repeated.

[0272] After the downloading comes to an end, the processing advances tostep S186.

[0273] At step S186, the CPU 71 discriminates whether or not thereremains an image which has not been downloaded as yet in the selectedimages, and if there remains an image which has not been downloaded asyet, then the processing returns to step S180 so that the processesdescribed above are repeated. However, any image with regard to which ithas been discriminated whether or not it should be downloaded when thedownloading information of that image which has the lowest consecutivenumber is picked up from among the one or more images selected by theuser is not picked up any more.

[0274] In this manner, when the video camera 11 downloads the selectedimages in order beginning with the lowest consecutive number, also thevideo camera image station 41 repeats a corresponding process, that is,the processes at steps S207 and S208 to successively supply the imagedata.

[0275] While the video camera 11 successively downloads the selectedimages in such a manner as described above, if it is discriminated atstep S186 that there does not remain an image which has not beendownloaded in the selected images (that is, if it is discriminated thatall of the selected images have been downloaded), then the CPU 71controls the LCD unit 78 to display such a screen as shown in FIG. 41.In particular, a guide indication 511 “Stored” is displayed at a centralportion of the screen, and an OK button 512 is displayed at a lowerportion. If a predetermined operation of the inputting section 77 isperformed, then the OK button 512 is selected, and when the OK button512 is selected, the CPU 71 returns the processing to step S169 so thatthe processes described above are repeated.

[0276] Further, after the supply of all of the images of an object ofthe request from the video camera 11 to the video camera 11 iscompleted, the video camera image station 41 ends the series ofprocesses and waits until it is accessed from the video camera 11. Ifthe video camera image station 41 receives an access from the videocamera 11, then the video camera image station 41 executes a processcorresponding to the request from the video camera 11.

[0277] A downloading operation of image data from the video camera imagestation 41 to the video camera 11 is performed in such a manner asdescribed above.

[0278] On the other hand, if the CPU 71 discriminates at step S171 ofFIG. 23 that the displayed button selected by the user does not indicatean instruction to start downloading, then the processing advances tostep S187.

[0279] At step S187, the CPU 71 discriminates whether or not thedisplayed button selected by the user is the deletion button 414 (or thedeletion button 444). If the displayed button selected by the user isthe deletion button 414 (or the deletion button 444), then theprocessing advances to step S188, at which the CPU 71 discriminateswhether or not an image to be deleted is selected. In particular, theCPU 71 discriminates whether or not a check is placed in at least one ormore of the check boxes in FIG. 32 or 33.

[0280] It is to be noted that, if the image displayed on the LCD unit 78at a point of time when a displayed button is selected at step S170 isan enlarged displayed index image as shown in FIG. 35 or 36, the CPU 71discriminates at step S185 that the index image displayed in an enlargedscale is selected.

[0281] If the CPU 71 discriminates at step S188 that an image to bedeleted is not selected, then the processing advances to step S189, atwhich the LCD unit 78 displays such an error message as shown in FIG.37. Since description of FIG. 37 is given hereinabove, it is omitted. Ifan input of selecting the OK button 452 at a lower portion of the screenis performed by the user, then the processing returns to step S169, atwhich the CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 to display such an index imageor images as shown in one of FIGS. 32 to 36 so that the processesdescribed above are repeated.

[0282] If the CPU 71 discriminates at step S188 that an image to bedeleted is selected, then the processing advances to step S190, at whichthe CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 to display a screen shown in FIG.42.

[0283] In FIG. 42, a guide indication 521 “May the two images be deletedfrom this album?” is displayed at a central portion of the screen, and acancel button 522 and an OK button 523 are displayed at a portion belowthe guide indication 521. The user can select the cancel button 522 orthe OK button 523 by performing a predetermined operation of theinputting section 77 to adjust the cursor and make a decision. It is tobe noted that, on the screen of FIG. 42, the cursor is adjusted to thecancel button 522 as default. Then, the user can adjust the cursor to adesired displayed button and depress a predetermined button of theinputting section 77 to decide the selection.

[0284] At step S191, the CPU 71 waits until an operation of deciding theselection is inputted to the inputting section 77 from the user. If anoperation to decide the selection is inputted by the user, then theprocessing advances to step S192.

[0285] The CPU 71 discriminates at step S192 whether or not theselection inputted to the inputting section 77 by the user is aninstruction to delete an image, and if the selection is not aninstruction for deletion (when the cancel button 522 is selected), thenthe processing returns to step S169 so that the processes describedhereinabove are repeated.

[0286] If the CPU 71 discriminates at step S192 that the selectioninputted to the inputting section 77 by the user is the OK button 523,then the processing advances to step S193, at which the CPU 71 accessesthe video camera image station 41 through the communication section 82and issues a request to delete the image data designated by the userfrom the album.

[0287] The CPU 151 of the video camera image station 41 receives therequest from the video camera 11 at step S204 and discriminates at stepS205 whether or not the request from the video camera 11 is downloadingof the image data. If the CPU 151 discriminates that the request is notdownloading (that the request is deletion of the image), then theprocessing advances to step S209, at which the CPU 151 performs deletionof the image data of an object of the request from the album. Then, theCPU 151 performs a process of producing index images of the latest albumwherein the remaining image data after the deletion are re-arranged andincidental information and supplying the index images and the incidentalinformation to the video camera 11 thereby ending the series ofprocesses, and then waits until it is accessed from the video camera 11.If the CPU 151 receives an access from the video camera 11, then theprocessing returns to step S201 so that the processes described aboveare repeated.

[0288] If the communication section 82 of the video camera 11 receivesthe index images and the incidental information of the new album fromthe video camera image station 41 at step S194, then the processingreturns to step S169, at which the CPU 71 controls the LCD unit 78 todisplay the received index images of the album. FIG. 43 shows an exampleof a screen displayed after the index image 397 and the index image 398are selected and then deleted on the screen of FIG. 33. In FIG. 43, theindex image 397 and the index image 398 displayed in FIG. 33 are erasedand the index image 399 is displayed at a position displaced to the leftside. The displayed portion other than this is similar to that in FIG.33.

[0289] Deletion of image data from an album is performed in such amanner as described above.

[0290] Then, if the CPU 71 discriminates at step S187 that the displayedbutton selected by the user is not the deletion button 414, then theprocessing advances to step S195, at which the CPU 71 discriminateswhether or not the selected displayed button is the all selection button412 or the all clear button 413. If the selected displayed button is theall selection button 412 or the all clear button 413, then theprocessing advances to step S196, at which the CPU 71 places, if theselected button is the all selection button 412, a check into all of thecheck boxes of the index screens of the screen shown in FIGS. 32 and 33.If the selected button is the all clear button 413, then the CPU 71erases the checks of all of the check boxes of the index screen of sucha screen as shown in FIGS. 32 and 33. Thereafter, the processing returnsto step S170 so that the processes described above are repeated.

[0291] If the CPU 71 discriminates at step S195 that the selecteddisplayed button is none of the all selection button 412 and the allclear button 413, or in other words, if the selected displayed button isthe transition button 393 “To the album selection page”, then theprocessing advances to step S163 so that the processes described aboveare repeated.

[0292] The user can perform reading and editing of an album using thevideo camera 11 in such a manner as described above.

[0293] It is to be noted that, during the series of processes describedabove, the user can interrupt the processing at any time by inputting apredetermined operation set in advance to the inputting section 77.

[0294] Further, the user can make use of a predetermined ID and passwordto access the video camera image station 41 from a personal computer foruniversal use connected to a network to read and edit image data.

[0295] While the series of processes described above can be executed byhardware, it may otherwise be executed by software. Where the series ofprocesses is executed by software, a program which constructs thesoftware is installed from a network or a recording medium into acomputer incorporated in hardware for exclusive use or, for example, apersonal computer for universal use which can execute various functionsby installing various programs.

[0296] The recording medium is formed as a package medium formed from,as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, a magnetic disk 91 (including a flexibledisk), 131, 171 or 211, an optical disk 92 (including a CD-ROM (CompactDisc-Read Only Memory) and a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)), 132, 172 or212, or a magneto-optical disk 93 (including an MD (Mini-Disk)), 133,173 or 213, or a semiconductor memory 94, 134, 174 or 214 which has theprogram recorded thereon or therein and is distributed in order toprovide the program separately from an apparatus body, or else is formedfrom a ROM 72, 112, 152 or 192 or a hard disk included in a storagesection 118, 158 or 198 which is provided to a user in a state whereinit is incorporated in the apparatus body in advance.

[0297] It is to be noted that, in the present specification, the stepswhich describe the program stored in a program storage medium may be butneed not necessarily be processed in a time series in the order asdescribed, and include processes which are executed in parallel orindividually without being processed in a time series.

[0298] Further, in the present specification, the term system representsan entire apparatus which is composed of a plurality of apparatus.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0299] As described above, with the information processing system of thepresent invention, the first information processing apparatus displaysindices to images transmitted from the second information processingapparatus and accepts selection of one or more of the images desired tobe downloaded by a user. Further, the first information processingapparatus discriminates whether or not the image data are downloadablebased on discrimination information transmitted from the secondinformation processing apparatus, issues a request for transmission ofthe image data to the second information processing apparatus if it isdiscriminated that the image data are downloadable, and records theimage data transmitted from the second information processing apparatusonto a recording medium. The second information processing apparatusstores the image data transmitted from the first information processingapparatus for each user, accepts an access from the first informationprocessing apparatus, specifies the user of the first informationprocessing apparatus, transmits, in response to the transmission requestfor indices to the images from the first information processingapparatus, indices to the images to the first information processingapparatus, transmits the discrimination information to the firstinformation processing apparatus in response to the transmission requestfor discrimination information from the first information processingapparatus, and transmits the image data to the first informationprocessing apparatus in response to the transmission request for theimage data from the first information processing apparatus.Consequently, a system wherein one or more image data can be downloadedsimply by a simple operation can be implemented.

[0300] With the first information processing apparatus and method,recording medium and program of the present invention, a request fortransmission of indices to images managed by a different informationprocessing apparatus is issued to the different information processingapparatus through the network, and the indices to the images transmittedfrom the different information processing apparatus are displayed andselection of one or more of the images desired to be downloaded by auser is accepted. Further, a request for transmission of discriminationinformation of the image data corresponding to the image or images isissued to the different information processing means, and it isdiscriminated based on the discrimination information transmitted fromthe different information processing apparatus whether or not the imagedata are downloadable. Then, a request for transmission of the imagedata to the different information processing apparatus is issued if itis discriminated that the image data are downloadable, and the imagedata transmitted from the different information processing apparatus arerecorded onto a recording medium. Consequently, one or more image datacan be downloaded simply by a simple operation.

[0301] With the second information processing apparatus and method,recording medium and program of the present invention, in response to atransmission request for indices to images from the differentinformation processing apparatus, indices to the images are transmittedto the different information processing apparatus, and thendiscrimination information is transmitted to the different informationprocessing apparatus in response to a transmission request fordiscrimination information from the different information processingapparatus. Then, one or more of the image data are transmitted to thedifferent information processing apparatus in response to a transmissionrequest for the image data from the different information processingapparatus. Consequently, one or more image data can be downloaded simplyby a simple operation.

1. An information processing system which includes a first informationprocessing apparatus which transmits and receives image data, and asecond information processing apparatus which manages the image data,characterized in that said first information processing apparatusincludes: first requesting means for issuing a request for transmissionof indices to the images managed by said second information processingapparatus to said second information processing apparatus through anetwork; acceptance means for displaying the indices to the imagestransmitted from said second information processing apparatus andaccepting selection of one or more of the images desired to bedownloaded by a user; second requesting means for issuing a request fortransmission of discrimination information of the image datacorresponding to the image or images whose selection has been acceptedby said acceptance means to said second information processingapparatus; discrimination means for discriminating whether or not theimage data are downloadable based on the discrimination informationtransmitted from said second information processing apparatus; thirdrequesting means for issuing a request for transmission of the imagedata to said second information processing apparatus if it isdiscriminated by said discrimination means that the image data aredownloadable; and recording means for recording the image datatransmitted from said second information processing apparatus onto arecording medium; and said second information processing apparatusincludes: storage means for storing the image data transmitted from saidfirst information processing apparatus for each user; specificationmeans for accepting an access from said first information processingapparatus to specify the user of said first information processingapparatus; first transmission means for transmitting, in response to thetransmission request for indices to the images from said firstinformation processing apparatus, indices to the images to said firstinformation processing apparatus; second transmission means fortransmitting the discrimination information to said first informationprocessing apparatus in response to the transmission request fordiscrimination information from said first information processingapparatus; and third transmission means for transmitting the image datato said first information processing apparatus in response to thetransmission request for the image data from said first informationprocessing apparatus.
 2. An information processing system according toclaim 1, characterized in that the indices to the images includethumbnail images of the images.
 3. An information processing systemaccording to claim 1, characterized in that the discriminationinformation includes information regarding a file size of the image dataand a type of a format of the image data as well as a URL correspondingto the image data.
 4. An information processing system according toclaim 3, characterized in that said third requesting means accesses,when to issue a request for transmission of the image data, the URLincluded in the discrimination information and issues a request fortransmission of the image data.
 5. An information processing apparatus,characterized in that it comprises: first requesting means for issuing arequest for transmission of indices to images managed by a differentinformation processing apparatus to said different informationprocessing apparatus through a network; first acceptance means fordisplaying the indices to the images transmitted from said differentinformation processing apparatus and accepting selection of one or moreof the images desired to be downloaded by a user; second requestingmeans for issuing a request for transmission of discriminationinformation of the image data corresponding to the image or images whoseselection has been accepted by said first acceptance means to saiddifferent information processing means; discrimination means fordiscriminating whether or not the image data are downloadable based onthe discrimination information transmitted from said differentinformation processing apparatus; third requesting means for issuing arequest for transmission of the image data to said different informationprocessing apparatus if it is discriminated by said discrimination meansthat the image data are downloadable; and recording means for recordingthe image data transmitted from said different information processingapparatus onto a recording medium.
 6. An information processingapparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the indices to theimages include thumbnail images of the images.
 7. An informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that thediscrimination information includes information regarding a file size ofthe image data and a type of a format of the image data as well as a URLcorresponding to the image data.
 8. An information processing apparatusaccording to claim 7, characterized in that said discrimination meanscompares the file size of the image data with a free storage capacity ofthe recording medium to discriminate whether or not the image data aredownloadable.
 9. An information processing apparatus according to claim7, characterized in that said discrimination means discriminates whetheror not the image data are downloadable based on the informationregarding the type of the format of the image data.
 10. An informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that saidthird requesting means accesses, when to issue a request fortransmission of the image data, the URL included in the discriminationinformation and issues a request for transmission of the image data. 11.An information processing apparatus according to claim 5, characterizedin that said discrimination means selects the image data one by one fromamong the image data corresponding to the one or more images accepted bysaid first acceptance means and discriminates whether or not theselected image data are downloadable, and said third requesting meansissues a request for transmission of the one image data every time it isdiscriminated by said discrimination means that one of the image data isdownloadable.
 12. An information processing apparatus according to claim5, characterized in that it further comprises image pickup means forpicking up an image of an image pickup object.
 13. An informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that saidnetwork is the Internet.
 14. An information processing apparatusaccording to claim 5, characterized in that it further comprises fourthrequesting means for issuing a request for transmission of a list ofgroups to said different information processing apparatus, and secondacceptance means for displaying the list of the groups transmitted fromsaid different information processing apparatus and accepting selectionfrom among the groups, and said first requesting means issues a requestfor indices to the image data classified in the group accepted by saidsecond acceptance means.
 15. An information processing method,characterized in that it comprises: a first requesting step of issuing arequest for transmission of indices to images managed by a differentinformation processing apparatus to said different informationprocessing apparatus through a network; an acceptance step of displayingthe indices to the images transmitted from said different informationprocessing apparatus and accepting selection of one or more of theimages desired to be downloaded by a user; a second requesting step ofissuing a request for transmission of discrimination information of theimage data corresponding to the image or images whose selection has beenaccepted by the process at the acceptance step to said differentinformation processing means; a discrimination step of discriminatingwhether or not the image data are downloadable based on thediscrimination information transmitted from said different informationprocessing apparatus; a third requesting step of issuing a request fortransmission of the image data to said different information processingapparatus if it is discriminated by the process at the discriminationstep that the image data are downloadable; and a recording step ofrecording the image data transmitted from said different informationprocessing apparatus onto a recording medium.
 16. A recording medium onwhich a computer-readable program is recorded, characterized in that theprogram comprises: a first requesting step of issuing a request fortransmission of indices to images managed by a different informationprocessing apparatus to said different information processing apparatusthrough a network; an acceptance step of displaying the indices to theimages transmitted from said different information processing apparatusand accepting selection of one or more of the images desired to bedownloaded by a user; a second requesting step of issuing a request fortransmission of discrimination information of the image datacorresponding to the image or images whose selection has been acceptedby the process at the acceptance step to said different informationprocessing means; a discrimination step of discriminating whether or notthe image data are downloadable based on the discrimination informationtransmitted from said different information processing apparatus; athird requesting step of issuing a request for transmission of the imagedata to said different information processing apparatus if it isdiscriminated by the process at the discrimination step that the imagedata are downloadable; and a recording step of recording the image datatransmitted from said different information processing apparatus onto arecording medium.
 17. A program for causing a computer to execute: afirst requesting step of issuing a request for transmission of indicesto images managed by a different information processing apparatus tosaid different information processing apparatus through a network; anacceptance step of displaying the indices to the images transmitted fromsaid different information processing apparatus and accepting selectionof one or more of the images desired to be downloaded by a user; asecond requesting step of issuing a request for transmission ofdiscrimination information of the image data corresponding to the imageor images whose selection has been accepted by the process at theacceptance step to said different information processing means; adiscrimination step of discriminating whether or not the image data aredownloadable based on the discrimination information transmitted fromsaid different information processing apparatus; a third requesting stepof issuing a request for transmission of the image data to saiddifferent information processing apparatus if it is discriminated by theprocess at the discrimination step that the image data are downloadable;and a recording step of recording the image data transmitted from saiddifferent information processing apparatus onto a recording medium. 18.An information processing apparatus, characterized in that it comprises:storage means for storing image data transmitted thereto from adifferent information processing apparatus for each user; specificationmeans for accepting an access from said different information processingapparatus to specify the user of said different information processingapparatus; first transmission means for transmitting, in response to atransmission request for indices to the images from said differentinformation processing apparatus, indices to the images to saiddifferent information processing apparatus; second transmission meansfor transmitting discrimination information to said differentinformation processing apparatus in response to a transmission requestfor discrimination information from said different informationprocessing apparatus; and third transmission means for transmittingpredetermined image data from within the image data stored in saidstorage means to said different information processing apparatus inresponse to a transmission request for the image data from saiddifferent information processing apparatus.
 19. An informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 18, characterized in that saidstorage means stores a plurality of the image data in a classified statein a plurality of groups, and said information processing apparatusfurther comprises fourth transmission means for transmitting a list ofthe groups to said different information processing apparatus based on atransmission request for the list of the groups from said differentinformation processing apparatus.
 20. An information processing method,characterized in that it comprises: a storage step of storing image datatransmitted thereto from a different information processing apparatusfor each user; a specification step of accepting an access from saiddifferent information processing apparatus to specify the user of saiddifferent information processing apparatus; a first transmission step oftransmitting, in response to a transmission request for indices to theimages from said different information processing apparatus, indices tothe images to said different information processing apparatus; a secondtransmission step of transmitting discrimination information to saiddifferent information processing apparatus in response to a transmissionrequest for discrimination information from said different informationprocessing apparatus; and a third transmission step of transmittingpredetermined image data from within the image data stored by theprocess of the storage step to said different information processingapparatus in response to a transmission request for the image data fromsaid different information processing apparatus.
 21. A recording mediumon which a computer-readable program is recorded, characterized in thatthe program comprises: a storage step of storing image data transmittedthereto from a different information processing apparatus for each user;a specification step of accepting an access from said differentinformation processing apparatus to specify the user of said differentinformation processing apparatus; a first transmission step oftransmitting, in response to a transmission request for indices to theimages from said different information processing apparatus, indices tothe images to said different information processing apparatus; a secondtransmission step of transmitting discrimination information to saiddifferent information processing apparatus in response to a transmissionrequest for discrimination information from said different informationprocessing apparatus; and a third transmission step of transmittingpredetermined image data from within the image data stored by theprocess of the storage step to said different information processingapparatus in response to a transmission request for the image data fromsaid different information processing apparatus.
 22. A program forcausing a computer to execute: a storage step of storing image datatransmitted thereto from a different information processing apparatusfor each user; a specification step of accepting an access from saiddifferent information processing apparatus to specify the user of saiddifferent information processing apparatus; a first transmission step oftransmitting, in response to a transmission request for indices to theimages from said different information processing apparatus, indices tothe images to said different information processing apparatus; a secondtransmission step of transmitting discrimination information to saiddifferent information processing apparatus in response to a transmissionrequest for discrimination information from said different informationprocessing apparatus; and a third transmission step of transmittingpredetermined image data from within the image data stored by theprocess of the storage step to said different information processingapparatus in response to a transmission request for the image data fromsaid different information processing apparatus.